As the match gradually slipped into a stalemate, Dai Huabin, who had been barely holding on, suddenly took the initiative to retreat. On the other side, Zhu Lu also abandoned her opponent and withdrew toward him.
Lin Mo and Xiao Xiao stopped in tacit understanding, neither continuing the pursuit.
The members of each team regrouped.
The moment Lin Mo returned to the other two, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao each took one of his hands.
When they first took his hands, Lin Mo instinctively tried to pull free, but the circulation of the two great Soul Powers forced him to stop.
Although those two needed physical contact with him to circulate the two great Soul Powers and rapidly recover their Soul Power, couldn't they put their hands on his shoulders as before?
This really felt strange!
Anyone who didn't know the circumstances might think he was some scumbag who practiced having one husband and one wife, taking both men and women.
Lin Mo glanced at the two people on either side of him.
Yet Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao looked perfectly calm, seeing nothing inappropriate about it. Was his mind the dirty one, taking things the wrong way??
"Roar-!"
A sudden tiger's roar pulled Lin Mo out of his thoughts.
He looked toward the sound. At some point, Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu had embraced. The presences of the Evil Eye White Tiger and Hell Civet actually merged into one at that moment, and intense fluctuations of Soul Power erupted from them.
Lin Mo immediately beat his wings.
How could he just stand there like an idiot and watch the opposing team perform Martial Soul Fusion? Of course he would take advantage of their fusion's windup to interrupt the cast!
Yet just as Lin Mo was about to charge out, Huo Yuhao held him back.
Lin Mo turned to look at him.
"It's too late." Huo Yuhao shook his head.
Although Huo Yuhao had previously withdrawn Spiritual Detection Sharing from him and Xiao Xiao, he still had it active himself and could ascertain how far the opposing pair's Martial Soul Fusion had progressed. Thus, Lin Mo chose to trust him and made no further move.
A trace of a smile flashed through Huo Yuhao's eyes.
He tightened his grip on Lin Mo's hand, turned toward him, and said earnestly:
"Lin Mo, let's perform Martial Soul Fusion too."
"A Martial Soul Fusion Skill has a windup. With my strength, I can't hold them off. Only Xiao Xiao's State's Mighty Weapon can buy us time."
"So-"
Huo Yuhao paused, his eyes astonishingly bright:
"Fuse your martial soul with mine, Lin Mo."
Lin Mo thought it over. That was indeed the case. Xiao Xiao's fusion skill, combined with State's Mighty Weapon, might be able to delay the Netherworld White Tiger, but if Huo Yuhao went instead, the Netherworld White Tiger would probably treat him like a speed bump and ram him flying.
"All right."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Huo Yuhao embraced him.
Lin Mo delayed no longer.
After transferring half his Soul Power to Xiao Xiao, he released her hand. The blue-gold wings behind him folded forward, enveloping Huo Yuhao completely.
The power of heaven's mandate and the power of fortune began to merge at that moment.
On the elevated spectator platform, Yan Shaozhe and the others instantly perked up, their gazes fixed on Lin Mo below as he prepared to unleash Martial Soul Fusion.
Meanwhile, the Netherworld White Tiger had already taken shape.
"Roar!!!"
With a furious roar that shook the entire arena, the enormous white tiger clawed at the ground with all four paws. Its massive body sent a transparent wave of air rippling outward before it lunged straight toward Lin Mo's trio at a terrifying speed.
"Xiao Xiao, we're counting on you!"
"No problem!"
Facing the colossal beast, eight meters long and two meters tall, Xiao Xiao felt no fear whatsoever.
She leaped in front of Lin Mo and Huo Yuhao.
Clang-!!
Three Soulstabilizing Cauldrons shot skyward and collided thunderously in midair.
Three cauldrons as one, State's Mighty Weapon!
An immense, ancient and solemn cauldron, black and red all over, materialized out of thin air and slammed down squarely in the Netherworld White Tiger's path.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Xiao poured every last drop of her Soul Power into it.
Hum-
The strange runes upon State's Mighty Weapon instantly lit up, awakening the faintly visible Mystic Bird totem on the cauldron's body along with them.
In the next instant, vast Heavenly Might, identical to Lin Mo's, erupted thunderously from the great cauldron! It actually stopped the fiercely lunging Netherworld White Tiger dead in its tracks!
A trace of humanlike fear appeared in the Netherworld White Tiger's eyes.
After being stalled for three full seconds, the Netherworld White Tiger finally moved.
It at last broke free of that Heavenly Might's restraint. Its massive body surged up once more and slammed viciously into the great cauldron.
Xiao Xiao's little face instantly turned pale.
Just as she was about to give out, a shadow suddenly descended from above, spreading down from over her head to envelop her petite body entirely. And that enraged Netherworld White Tiger actually stopped again.
Xiao Xiao turned to look, and the sight shook her.
Huo Yuhao had vanished completely, while Lin Mo had risen into the air, the dark azure wings behind him spread fully, blotting out the sky and sun.
This time, there was no longer a Mystic Bird phantom behind him.
Instead, there was an enormous vertical eye!
The instant everyone present saw that phantom vertical eye, their bodies jolted violently. That eye actually appeared directly within their own Seas of Spirit, hanging high above, without sorrow or joy, like the Heavenly Dao gazing down!
It was as though it had seen through their entire beings, their entire lives, with a single glance.
In midair, Lin Mo himself kept both eyes tightly shut.
The third eye on his forehead suddenly opened!
At the center of that third eye, a Mystic Bird linked its head and tail, circling and coiling into a strange eyeball.
The eyeball slowly turned a few times.
Then, as though it had locked onto something, it burst with a dazzling gleam.
The enormous phantom vertical eye behind Lin Mo opened as well.
In that instant, heaven and earth fell silent.
Lin Mo slowly raised his hand.
His thin lips parted, and he softly uttered a single word:
"Defeat."
As that single word fell, his wrist pressed downward-
Heavenly Mandate Mystic Bird, Fortune Spirit Eyes, Martial Soul Fusion:
A downcast gaze beneath heaven's mandate, Mystic Bird Fixes Fate!
In a flash, the clouds in the previously bright, partly cloudy sky suddenly tore apart. An enormous hand descended from the ninth heaven, pressing down fiercely upon the Netherworld White Tiger as though the heavens were collapsing.
Boom!
A single palm strike pinned the Netherworld White Tiger firmly to the ground.
The enormous white tiger instantly let out a pained whimper, its massive body sunk deep into the platform, unable to move in the slightest!
Everyone present's expression changed drastically.
The referee wanted to rush forward and stop it, only to discover in terror that he could not move at all!
It was as though everything unfolding before him had been ordained by heaven's mandate, following a predetermined course, and anyone who attempted to change it was like an ant trying to shake a tree.
The referee was not the only one being suppressed.
On the elevated spectator platform, Yan Shaozhe, who already had one foot in the ranks of Super Douluos, was also pinned firmly in place by an unseen, immense power, unable to move in the slightest.
His eyes widened as he gazed at that figure interwoven with purple, dark azure, and gold in midair, goosebumps rising all over his body.
This was not a Soul Skill.
This was already... the manifestation of heaven's mandate!
At that moment, the same words involuntarily surfaced in everyone's minds-
What heaven's mandate ordained must not be rashly altered.